San Antonio Investors Launch an Angel Network

San Antonio doesn’t attract as much venture capital as Austin, Houston and Dallas.

But now a group of high net worth individuals are trying to change that.

Last week, they launched the San Antonio Angel Network and announced Chris Burney, a former Rackspace executive, as its executive director.

While San Antonio has had investment funds, this is the first organized angel network. And it seeks to be as big a force as the Central Texas Angel Network in Austin, which is routinely listed as one of the most active networks in the country.

CTAN along with the Austin Technology Incubator and the Austin Technology Council were instrumental in establishing Austin as a major technology center.

The head of the new angel network most recently served as a finance manager at Rackspace. He also previously worked as a market data analyst for Thomson Reuters and an analyst for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

“The San Antonio Angel Network is interested in investing in companies in a variety of industries, in addition to tech,” Burney said in a news release. “Our city and the professionals within it excel in many fields, such as biomedical and healthcare, hospitality, and energy, among others. We want to be a source of funding for all startups with growth potential in those spaces.”

Members of the San Antonio Angel Network include Michael Girdley of Codeup, Lew Moorman of ScaleWorks, Pat Matthews of Filestack, Cole Wollak of FlashScan3D, Amit Mehta of Intrinsic Imaging and Brent Barry, former Spur. Girdley and Wollak also run the Geekdom Fund, which invests in technology startups.

“Given the growth in the tech and medical industries, among others, an angel network is something we are desperately in need of in San Antonio,” Girdley said in a news release. “The network will open startup investing to a new group of investors who, until now, have had to travel outside of San Antonio to get deal flow. For entrepreneurs, it will provide funding opportunities without having to leave town access investment dollars.”

Geekdom, a coworking site and tech incubator, plans to help attract angel investors and companies to the San Antonio Angel Network.